Videos & Rules

MGA Responds to Italian Online Gambling Bust

Published Thursday, July 23, 2015 -
Online-Casinos.com

Italy has been dealt another scandalous blow with the arrest of 51 people in connection with tax evasion related to funds earned from online gambling. The online gambling tax evasion operation is said to be valued at € 2 billion. Executive Mario Gennaro and his associate Domenico Lagrotteria along with 49 other participants were detained by Italian police on July 22. Investigators have seized 45 Italian companies, 11 foreign companies, 1,500 agencies, 82 websites and an undisclosed number of buildings that were part of the alleged scam.

Gennaro the general director of BetUniQ a Malta-based gambling company is the alleged kingpin of the international criminal group. Agencies in Italy, Romania, Austria and Spain, collected and distribute winnings in cash in order to avoid taxes.

Franco Roberti, the Anti-Mafia District Attorney from Calabria said the operation was linked directly to the Tegano clan of the organized crime group 'Ndrangheta. Gennaro’s organization focused on money laundering illegal gambling and avoiding taxes. The criminals used companies and servers registered offshore to avoid the Italian tax authorities. Wagers collected by Italian agencies were transferred to bank accounts controlled by the organized criminals to bookmakers based in Malta. The rerouting of funding allowed the group to evade taxes and launder large amounts of cash. Investigators commented that in 48 hours a single agency may do transactions worth as much as € 200,000.

According to the Times of Malta newspaper The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) has suspended the licences of a number of gaming companies in the country because of these arrests in Italy. Italian police are alleging that Malta-based companies Tebaral Holding Ltd, Tebaral Trading Ltd, Uniq Group Ltd, Uniq Shopping Ltd, Betsolution4U Ltd and Fast Run Ltd were involved in the criminal activities.

The MGA commented, “This is further to investigations and arrests carried out by the Italian law enforcement authorities in collaboration with the Maltese police,"